Legendary Brazilian attacker Ronaldinho is on the hunt for a new club.

The 2005 Ballon d’Or winner and Atletico Minero have mutually agreed to part ways, ending the 34-year-old’s time with the Brazilian club. The former AC Milan and Barcelona star joined Atletico from fellow Brazilian side Flamengo in 2012 and led the team to a Copa Libertadores victory the following year.

Ronaldinho had previously signed an extension with the club this past January, but manager Levir Culpi confirmed Monday that the two sides had parted ways.

“I can’t call on Ronaldinho anymore,” said Culpi. “His cycle with us has ended. It’s unfortunate because he’s an idol to all of us. Everyone loves his football, the way he plays and he’s a very charismatic person. But that’s the way it goes. He’s leaving and we must move on without him.”

Boca Juniors, Fluminese and an unnamed MLS side have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring the Brazilian star, according to Goal.

Here are some more of Monday’s news and notes from around the world of soccer:

MESSI TRIAL TO GO ON AS PLANNED

It turns out even the most famous of soccer stars can’t dribble their way past the long arm of the law.

A Barcelona judge ruled Monday that Lionel Messi’s trial for tax fraud will go on as planned, rejecting a request from the public prosecutor’s office to dismiss the case.

Messi, along with his father, Jorge Messi, is under trial for three counts of tax fraud. Prosecutors’ request to dismiss the soccer star and only try the Messi patriarch were denied. The judge presiding over the case ruled that Messi “could have known about and consented to the creation and maintenance of a fictitious company structure, whose sole aim was to evade the fulfillment of tax obligations resulting from the income generated from the exploitation of his image rights”.

The judge gave the prosecution ten days to either request the opening of the oral proceedings or dismiss the trial.

DUNGA TAKES SHOTS AT NEYMAR, ALVES

Less than a week after taking charge of the Brazilian National Team for his second stint, Dunga has already made it clear that the team’s mentality will be undergoing a massive overhaul.

The 1994 World Cup winner took shots at the most recent Brazilian World Cup team by criticizing the emotional responses displayed by the team at this summer’s tournament.

“Tearful scenes like those witnessed during the game against Chile promote a negative image of football,” said the Brazilian boss. “We’re macho, we like to think that men don’t cry, although we respect everyone”

Dunga went on to criticize starters Neymar and Dani Alves repeated changes of hairstyles, saying that the duo should have done so “before or after the tournament”. The 50-year-old manager also discussed the player’s sponsorships, pointing out the lack of Brazilian apparel on display during press conferences.

“The main focus has to be the Brazil national team, Dunga said. “When you give a press conference on international duty you give it in a Brazil cap. (…) You have to market the beautiful game.”

Finally, Dunga pointed to how his term will differ, stating that “people should talk more about what I do on the pitch and less about what I do off it”.

His point was about, Team 1st not individuals. If you are worrying about how your hair looks you are a distracted player. This Brazil Team performed below expectations (World Cup Trophy) but were only out done by 3 other teams in the world. What is sub par about that?

MLS this is your last chance, ronaldinho needs MLS and MLS needs him. This would be bigger than Beckham, since MLS can pick up ronaldinho after the world cup fever and new fans.
Galaxy need him and red bull are going to say, who’s ronAldinho.

Yes, in terms of media hype, movie titles, underwear ads, Beckham takes the cake. But Ronaldinho was a much better player – ballon d’or, WC title and just joy to watch. Sadly, today’s Ronaldinho is quite a few pounds heavier and slower than the original version. Even so, if given a choice to watch an MLS team with Beckham or MLS team with Ronaldinho, I would buy a ticket to the game featuring Ronaldinho.

Well it is debatable since Beckham had a nightmare season in Europe in 2007, when he signed with MLS. Dinho is not nearly good as he was a his peak and may be running on fumes, but he still won 2013 South American Footballer of the year and led his team to Copa Libertadores win. If he can replicate his last year’s form, he will be better than 99% of MLS players.

Dinho makes just about $1.2M a season. i’m assuming he, at the most, would get an equally valuable contract. that’s not that ridiculous of a contract given the name. sure, he’s 34, but look at what Lampard is getting paid and he’s 36.

how does my logic allow for you to be worth the league minimum? i’m not following. i’m saying signing a guy like Ronaldinho for $1.2M at age 34 isn’t an awful deal when compared to some other signings/contracts in MLS.

You want Ronaldinho to come to MLS for less then 1.2mil are you nuts. This is MLS we are talking about not the Bundisliga. He starts on every team in this league no questions asked. Should we throw insane Beckham like money of course not but come on don’t say we should pay less just because he is 34. He still would be one of the 10 best players in the league as soon as his planed landed. Don’t look at what he is worth to teams who are world class look at his worth to MLS teams there is a huge difference.

And herein lies a big problem. Economics studies have for decades demonstrated the absolutely stubborn resistance of people to wage decreases. Logic plays almost no role. People rarely want to do the same job for less, even if they are gettng worse at it and they know it. They almost always prefer retirement. So dominant is this phenomenon that it is structured into many of the salary cap rules in American sports– such that you actually CAN’T play for rookie money, even if you want to. (It is actually quite comical the logic sometimes used to defend this– as though the 28 year old player “needs” more money than the 24 year old, like his kids have hyper-aged and are now heading off to college)

If a player simply must accept a pay cut, he will likely accept the minumum paycut offered, even if the new is for a far less attractive company or location (see Adu, Freddy). Way of the world, for the most part.

Ronaldinho’s case is going to be weird no matter what. He is a former World Player of the Year, which would be a first in MLS (I refuse to acknowledge that fat Lothar Matthäus lookalike), and I think his terms are probably pretty aggressive and unlikely to budge much. If somebody steps forward and says “we’ll pay”, then the player will come here. Otherewise, I doubt he’ll leave the comfort of S. America.

Here again MLS has a chance to prove its chops. If Lampard can come for 8million and yes I know it is to much but he is here for that. We all heard the rumors of Drogba and Eto and they would be paid as much as Ronaldinho if not more. So that being said and done then you have to say 1.5 to 2mil even 3mil isn’t to bad for Ronaldinho. I would rather not over pay but this is Ronaldinho we are talking about. You can’t let freaking Aussie teams come poach him even if that means dropping a few more duckets into his bank account. You don’t do this for just anyone he is special.

That’s Exactly what I think, MLS needs ronaldinho and MLS barely got Lampard and villa because if nycfc, and that’s also because nycfc open their wallet.
Look at galaxy, they thought Omar Gonzalez would be out by now but no.
Galaxy would be flying him in a second to LA if they had spot open.
MLS couldn’t get drogba, eto,, ronaldinho back then and ronaldinho is open again.
Not only those players, but Forlan as well.
Now, imagine red bull tries to get ronaldinho but says no because of the lame name of red bull , how sad that would be.
But you never know, maybe Seattle wants him but Seattle is not his type of city. If Chicago or Boston had a downtown stadium, those teams would be a real option.
For instance, teams like Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Denver, dc, philly, could have an amazing fan base if their team played downtown, even Columbus .

It is probably an article non of you read but Kevin Sammut of Malta is a major scapegoat…nobody but a known criminal in Croatia (who could not even properly identify him). He supposedly fixed a match Norway vs Malta back during a Euro 2008 qualifier…. The guy was subbed off for tactical reasons when Malta was down 1-0 at the half…(not an unlikely result giving the two teams abilities). Norway then went on to win 4-0 (scoring 3 goals in the final 18 mins when Kevin was not even on the pitch).

There is absolutely no evidence against this guy. The scoured his bank accounts and found no irregularities.

He is being railroaded by UEFA and FIFA because they need someone to blame… SHAMEFUL

If ronaldinho comes to MLS, I would put him on a strict diet, so he could recover and be down to some good pounds.
Ronaldinho knows if he comes to MLS, he will be pressure to be a player and professional and at the same time he can get his life straight.
I doubt that MLS teams have bad dietitians or conditioning coaches, I would tell them, get this boy on a diet asp.